The Karaftu Cave

Karaftu Cave is an aggregation of natural beauties and the exploits of previous humans to master nature and live better and securer. The Karaftu Cave is undoubtedly one of the most enchanting tourist attractions in the west of the country, which the ancient Iranians created without any advanced tools.

Karaftu Cave is one of the most significant and largest ancient caves in Iran. The cave is located in Kurdistan province, 42 kilometers from Takab city in West Azarbaijan province near the village of Yuzbash Kandi. The Karaftu Cave is a four-story cave which is an assemblage of artificially cut rock chambers with many ancient inscriptions, dated to the 2th or 3rd century BCE. The cave structures belong to the Sasanian and Ashkanian Empires. The Karaftu Cave is situated at an altitude of more than 100 meters above the ground, which should pass over 180 steps to reach it. The natural corridor of the cave is over 600 meters long, with a ceiling height of 1 to 12 meters.

• The Greek inscription
  There is a Greek inscription on the top of one of chambers on the third floor, which named as the Temple of Heracles (Greek god). The sentence "This house is Heracles; in there everyone is safe" is engraved along the inscription. Due to the existence of this inscription, some historians believe that the Karaftu Cave might have been temporarily resettled by the Seleucid. So far no one has been able to identify all of the paths and chambers and have not prepared a complete map of the cave due to the maze of routes and corridors. In addition to carving chambers and passageways in the Karaftu Cave, the rooms are interconnected. The apertures are embedded outward and on the walls of the cave, some rooms are engraved individually with a simple design of animals, humans and plants.

• More about the cave
  According to geological researches, during the medieval period, Karaftu Cave was underwater, and at the end of this period its altitudes have been removed from the water. Karaftu Cave is a calcareous and natural cave that has undergone many changes in various times. The current length of the cave is about 750 meters, and there are several sub-routes from it. The most beautiful part of the cave is the third floor, due to the precision in cutting and digging the chambers and also the shape of the roofs, which they have been cut in the arched shape, and the existence of portals and apertures.

• Travel guides and information
  If you want to stay a night here, the closest hotels are situated in the Sanandij, Saqqez and Mahabad cities. It is better to bring food on this journey, because there isn’t any restaurant around there. There is a parking lot at the Karaftu site that you can easily park your car opposite the cave. If you need to gas up your car, the closest gas station is located 15 kilometers from the cave. There is a small store in the cave site and a public toilet with reasonable Iranian toilets. The inside of the cave is extremely dark when the cave has power failure, so we recommend you to bring a small flashlight. You demand to purchase a ticket to get into the cave. The entrance fee to the Karaftu Cave is about 200.000 IRR for foreign visitors. You can visit the cave between 8:00AM to 5:00PM.

• What is the best time to go?
  Spring is the best time of year to visit the Karaftu Cave. Due to the Karaftu Cave is located in one of the snowy areas of Kurdistan province, it may not be a good idea to visit it in winter.

• Getting there:
  The distance between Tehran to Karaftu Cave is about 550 kilometers and takes about 7 hours. You can get there via Karaj-Qazvin, Zanjan-Bijar, Shikh Basharat, Takab-Bijar and Takab-Irankhah roads.